March 8, 2012

After a mid-April tornado struck Sumter County’s Geiger community, help came from several sources.

People from First Baptist Church and Christian Valley Baptist Church, both in Livingston and Bigbee Baptist Association, along with members from other churches, went to the area to try to meet the needs of those affected by the storm.

College students from First, Livingston and the University of West Alabama (UWA) worked a week in Geiger, Pastor Jerry Hall said.

“Old and young went” from Christian Valley Baptist to clean up yards and remove debris from houses, Pastor Matthew Kelley said.

Christian Valley volunteers assisted about three days a week for three or four weeks. Kelley estimated that there were probably 15 people working each time.

“They’re good people,” he said of the members of his church, which averages about 75 in Sunday worship. “They’ve got big hearts.”

A team of about 10 from Christian Valley did chain saw work and gave out lunches in Tuscaloosa after tornadoes ravaged that area April 27, Kelley said.

Some volunteers from First, Livingston, also served in Tuscaloosa and other places, cooking and serving food and delivering the meals into the community when needed, Hall said.

Butch Larkin, who attends First, Livingston, explained that workers prepared some meal items in the church’s kitchen and transported them to different sites to feed volunteers, first responders and people affected by the storms.

It was a cooperative effort of the church, the community and businesses, Larkin said. Probably 40 people from four counties and UWA assisted in the effort.

In all, they prepared about 2,500 meals in roughly 10 days, Larkin said.

“I was just glad that we could be there,” Hall said.

After all, meeting needs during a crisis may plant a seed that later brings someone to Christ, he said. (TAB)